The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-06-04
MAKING GOOD ROADS.
The Method Suggested by Macadam Un-
questiOnably the Best Yet Devised.

The Method Suggested by Macadam Un-
questionabiy the Best Yet Devised.
Few people know how easily good
and properly macadamized road can be
made, or understand how excellent and
enduring such road is. A man who
thoroughly understands the system, and
sees it carried out properly, will make
a better road with few inches of
broken stones than others will make
with three times the quantity of ma
terial, not to mention useless labor.
Macadam cared very little what sort of
bottom he had to deal with, if it were
not an absolute morass, and he was not
often deferred by that. "For road"
he says, sit is not necessary to lay u
foundation of large stones, pavement,
etc, as it is matter of indifference
whether the substratum be hard or soft,
and if any preference is due, it is to the
latter" These statements look like
heresy compared with much that we
have read on road and matchmaking,
but the great road-maker was right,
nevertheless. First of all, whatever
the bottom was like, he took care to see
that the ground had evenly settled be-
fore the stones were spread upon it,
that there might be no subsistence in
any part afterward to cause inequali-
ties, Il matter which is often overlooked.
When the roadway had to be cut and
leveled, large stones dug out of the
ground, or any inequalities to be made
up, the ground was afterward left to
settle before proceeding further with
the work. In putting on the stones,
quite as much care was exercised.
The hardest stone in the district was
procured-granite, flint or whinstone;
next, it was broken to the regulation
size in pieces about an inch in dame
ter, though a rougher size will do; and,
lastly, the stones were not laid on the
road, but spread shovelful after shovel
full to the depth of from six inches to
ten inches, which was considered suffi-
cient for general highway traffic. The
road was made slightly higher in the
center than at the sides, to throw off
the water, as the object was to form
an impermeable crust that would keep
the water from percolating to the
bottom, thereby rendering it soft and
causing it to work up, the necessary
drainage being, of course, secured in
the usual way. This is matchmaking
in the proper sense of the term, a
system which has nearly superseded
every other, but it is the attention to
trifles in carrying it out that makes
perfect work. For example, many peo-
pie would attach little Importance to
the stones being broken or angular, and
be quite as Indifferent about the mode
of spreading them on the road; yet
! these are two of the most important
! points The use of watcr-worn stones
of the same size will not make q solid
crust, because they yield to pressue,
their round surfaces offering little or
no resistance; but it is different with
broken stones, which when of uniform
size, and clean and properly spread on
the ground, set fast on the same prin-
ciple as that of an arch. | have seen
roads made on an extensive scale on
this system, and had to make such my
SELF and l have never seen any thing
to equal them.
Walks, which are often cut out deep
and filled in the bottom with large
stones, may be made on Macadam's
principle with far less trouble and with
much better results. Broken stones, to
the depth of two inches or three inches,
will be quite sufficient, and they should,
after being spread on, be beaten even
on the surface with broad wooden ram
mers. This sets the crust effectually at
the beginning. Afterward a thin coat
ing of clean gravel should be spread
upon the surface to hide the stones, but
no more. Such walk is smooth and
firm, and comfortable to the feet in all
weathers; rain only washes it clean, and
frost has not the least effect upon it if
the bottom be drained. The material
holds no moisture to freeze; it is the
accumulation of soft gravel on the sur
face of walks that freezes and renders
them so muddy and uncomfortable
afterward. With us the stones are
broken by machine to any size we
want them. G0rdeR